1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video camera and, more particularly, to a digital video camera including a plurality of lenses and image sensors and common digital video signal processing circuitry for processing signals from each of the image sensors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Visual communication over point-to-point telecommunication networks has become an increasingly useful and economic alternative for information exchange in business and consumer applications. A common element of all visual communication systems is the video input device. To date, video input devices have generally been based on variations of traditional video camcorder technology.
However, traditional camcorder-type video cameras impose severe limitations on the format and capabilities of present day video conferencing. For example, there often occurs a need to switch camera views quickly from one room view to another or from face-to-face view to face-to-document view. Present methods for achieving these various views incorporate motor driven pan/tilt stages and/or multiple cameras.
Unfortunately, such methods for achieving multiple views can be cost prohibitive since a plurality of complete camera units each including a pan/tilt stage are expensive to purchase, maintain and operate. In addition, the speed at which the typical pan/tilt stage operates limits the desirability of such a system which often must operate in real time. For example, during a multimedia conference in which a plurality of speakers are seated in one conference room, it may be desirable to switch views depending on which speaker is talking. If one camera having a pan/tilt stage is provided, by the time an operator positions the camera using the remote pan/tilt stage to capture a view of an active speaker, the speaker may change, thus requiring a further camera position change. A plurality of complete camera units can minimize this problem although this solution may be cost prohibitive.
The present invention is provided to overcome the above-noted disadvantages associated with the prior art.